Death and Taxes in the Ancient Assyrian Empire: Pictures of Wealth Inequality in Provincial Settlements

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The study of mortuary material in archaeology has always related to subjects of identity, beliefs, and resources. Furthermore, it is one of our prime resources for understanding non-elite individuals in the premodern world, especially in societies where historical sources revolve around the ruling elites. This is certainly the case in the ancient Assyrian Empire (c. 1400-600 BCE). But in this particular instance, mortuary practices not only serve to help us in understanding non-elite existence, but the interaction between non-elites and elites.

To illustrate this, I look at the depletion of wealth in grave contexts in the Assyrian core and periphery over the 700 years of existence of the empire. I argue that a widespread decrease in grave goods and grave good quality signal the increase of resource extraction over time. As the Empire expanded and strengthened, wealth was extracted from the provinces in amounts unequal to those in the core of the Empire. This increase in taxation, paired with the adoption of Assyria mortuary characteristics in the periphery, illustrate the extent to which Assyrian imperialism was imposed upon their non-elite subjects.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 29869